The 2025 BET Awards revives 106 & Park for the night — with performances from Ashanti, Amerie, Mýa and more

The 2025 BET Awards celebrated the 25th anniversary of 106 & Park, where they brought back some of the hosts to introduce a slew of popular acts from the early 2000s, who came out and performed some of their biggest hits. This was a huge highlight of the show for me. For those who grew up during this time, some of these artists, songs and just the era of 106 & Park defined moments of their lives.

Everybody showed up and showed out. But if I had to pick a standout performance? It was Mýa, for sure. Mýa’s performance was a ‘wow’ moment for an artist who I feel never got her due for how decent a singer and how good a performer she was. My only note is that I wish she wore a slightly different outfit, because I got the sense that the jacket was restricting her movement.

Mýa performing at the BET Awards '25 | BET

The word ‘underrated’ gets thrown around a hell of a lot. But Mýa has always been an underrated dancer and performer. Within certain circles online, Mya always gets her due as a dancer, but it’s not something I feel she was ever widely praised for in the same way that the likes of Aaliyah and Ciara were. Mýa could dance her ass off and it wasn’t something that she hid. It as right there in the music videos and her countless live performances.

I dunno what it is about Mýa where she always managed to fly at this strange level on radars. She was known, but never seemed to have a moment, despite being attached to really big songs. There was “Lady Marmalade”, but the focus always felt like it was on P!nk, Christina Aguilera and Lil’ Kim, between the big voices and personalities. There was also “Take Me There”, where Mya kinda got sidelined by Blackstreet and Ma$e. And whilst Mya’s music has always been consistently decent, she’s never had that ONE album that everybody cited as a classic. “Case of the Ex” was a smash hence — hence her performing it. But I don’t think Fear of Flying ever reached the level of Aaliyah’s One in a Million or Ciara’s Goodies as that definitive album of her career — which is a shame, because I think it coulda been and really shoulda been. Fear of Flying was a decent album. It could have had a much better singles run than it ended up having, before it was repackaged and the additional song “Free” was made a single.

Amerie performing at the BET Awards '25 | BET

Seeing so many popular acts of the early 2000s was incredibly nostalgic. But it was also a testament to how a great song can have staying power, even beyond the longevity and popularity of the person who put the song out. None of the acts who performed have the careers now that they had back then. Not even remotely close. And yet each and every one of them has at least one song which is still remembered and widely revered. I still hear a bunch of these songs all over the place and still listen to them myself. I don’t go more than a few weeks without hearing Amerie’s “1 Thing”. And Keyshia Cole’s “Love” has itself an annual resurgence on social media.

This 106 & Park segment really should be a wake up call to record labels and artists, that you need to put in the work to make a GREAT single. And record labels need to pick the songs that they feel can be more than just a TikTok trend. There is nothing wrong with a song becoming popular on TikTok. The problem is that record labels are having artists put songs out JUST for them to be popular on TikTok, when they should be putting out songs to be hits on the radio and the charts. Because a song which is good and is a hit where it matters, will more-than-likely end up trending on TikTok anyway.

And what also doesn’t help is that we don’t have shows like 106 & Park anymore, to not only provide another place for artists to promote their music and perform, but hear full songs, watch music videos, see what’s charting and get a read on the music landscape. Shows like 106 & Park and TRL were so vital for helping facilitate trends and playing their part in making careers. So many artists of the early 2000s had big moments and breaks on these shows. So it really is a shame that we no longer have them. I also find it weird that BET and MTV both continue to annual award shows for music, but don’t actually have music shows to help platform artists. We need to bring these types of chart shows back, because the music game is on life support right now.